Hall of Mirrors

The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Uses-and Misuses-of History

Barry Eichengreen

First and only systematic comparative analysis of the two great economic and financial crises of the last 100 years

Provides an integrated account of experience in the US and Europe, which together constituted the epicenter of the recent crisis and were similarly at the center of the Great Depression

Economic analysis is leavened by anecdote and personalities, with key figures in both crises introduced and humanized

Shows how the history of the Great Depression shaped how policy makers perceived and responded to the Global Credit Crisis, but equally how the recent crisis will in turn re-shape how we see the Depression

Hall of Mirrors

The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Uses-and Misuses-of History

Barry Eichengreen

Description

The two great financial crises of the past century are the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Recession, which began in 2008. Both occurred against the backdrop of sharp credit booms, dubious banking practices, and a fragile and unstable global financial system. When markets went into cardiac arrest in 2008, policymakers invoked the lessons of the Great Depression in attempting to avert the worst. While their response prevented a financial collapse and catastrophic depression like that of the 1930s, unemployment in the U.S. and Europe still rose to excruciating high levels. Pain and suffering were widespread.

The question, given this, is why didn't policymakers do better? Hall of Mirrors, Barry Eichengreen's monumental twinned history of the two crises, provides the farthest-reaching answer to this question to date. Alternating back and forth between the two crises and between North America and Europe, Eichengreen shows how fear of another Depression following the collapse of Lehman Brothers shaped policy responses on both continents, with both positive and negative results. Since bank failures were a prominent feature of the Great Depression, policymakers moved quickly to strengthen troubled banks. But because derivatives markets were not important in the 1930s, they missed problems in the so-called shadow banking system. Having done too little to support spending in the 1930s, governments also ramped up public spending this time around. But the response was indiscriminate and quickly came back to haunt overly indebted governments, particularly in Southern Europe. Moreover, because politicians overpromised, and because their measures failed to stave off a major recession, a backlash quickly developed against activist governments and central banks. Policymakers then prematurely succumbed to the temptation to return to normal policies before normal conditions had returned. The result has been a grindingly slow recovery in the United States and endless recession in Europe.

Hall of Mirrors is both a major work of economic history and an essential exploration of how we avoided making only some of the same mistakes twice. It shows not just how the "lessons" of Great Depression history continue to shape society's response to contemporary economic problems, but also how the experience of the Great Recession will permanently change how we think about the Great Depression.

Hall of Mirrors

The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Uses-and Misuses-of History

Barry Eichengreen

Table of Contents

Part I: Introduction Part II: The Best of Times 1. New Age Economics 2. Golden Globe 3. Competing on a Violent Scale 4. By Legislation or Fiat 5. Where Credit is Due 6. Castles in Spain Part III: The Worst of Times 7. Spent Bullets 8. The Next Leg Down 9. On Europe's Shores 10. Will America Topple Too? 11. Largely Contained 12. Scant Evidence 13. The Spiral 14. Fish or Foul Part IV: Toward Better Times 15. Revival or Reform 16. Something for Everyone 17. Takahashi's Revenge 18. Dip Again 19. Preventing the Worst 20. Stressed and Stimulated 21. Unconventional Policy Part V: Avoiding the Next Time 22. Wall Street and Main Street 23. Normalization in an Abnormal Economy 24. Making Things as Difficult as Possible 25. Men in Black 26. Euro or Not Part VI: The Shadow of History

Hall of Mirrors

The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Uses-and Misuses-of History

Barry Eichengreen

Author Information

Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Science, UC-Berkeley

Barry Eichengreen is Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His previous books include Hall of Mirrors: The Great Depression, The Great Recession, and the Uses-and Misuses-of History,Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System and Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919-1939.

Hall of Mirrors

The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Uses-and Misuses-of History

Barry Eichengreen

Reviews and Awards

"This is undoubtedly one of the best books on the history of economic policy-making to be published in the last half century. .. clear, compelling account of the Great Depression and the Great Recession." - Professor Brad Bratley Bateman (Randolph College), HETP Vol.2